A Shadow in Between
by 1nfiniteAngel
Summary: Night had always known that she came from somewhere else, somewhere far away. When tradegy strikes her family of two, Night sets out to find her past. But some secrets are better left unearthed, and Night is about to find that out the hard way...


**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own the Warriors series, nor am I the three people (or so I heard) that use the pen-name Erin Hunter.

_Author's Note: Rated T just in case. Read and tell me what you think!_

A young tabby she-cat stumbled through the dense foliage on weak legs. She knew she would have to give up soon. Every time she lay down, the small, black bundle in her jaws mewled feebly on contact with the wet ground, and the cat was forced to get up and keep moving. She pushed her way through a bush, narrowing her green eyes as branches scraped her pelt.

Not too far away, a gray loner finished the mouse lying in between her paws and licked her lips. That was the driest prey she had caught in a long time. The ground was still wet underpaw from the rain that had fallen for days before finally stopping, and she was beginning to think she would never find a piece of prey that was not soggy. A bush rustled nearby, and the loner picked up a cat scent, as well as a newborn kit's. _What mouse-brained cat would wander out on its own like this with a kit so young?_ She thought scathingly as she scrambled up a nearby tree and watched the clearing.

The tabby pushed her way into the clearing, trying to breathe past the kit in her mouth, who had no energy to cry anymore. The gray shadow in the tree stared, shocked. Both cats were painfully thin, and the kit was smaller than it should have been. It had a jet black pelt and leaf green eyes, an exact copy of its mother. The blue-eyed loner leaped down in front of the cat, who yelped and fell back, sitting on her haunches abruptly. Then she relaxed, noticing that the gray cat in front of her was looking at her with sympathy.  
The black she-cat started to say something, then shivered. Composing herself as best as she could, she rasped, "Her name is Nightkit. I can't take care of her, so I hope you will. I hope you take her in as your own." Nightkit let out a piteous wail as she was dropped in a puddle. Her mother fell to the ground, her eyes closing.  
The loner drew the kit close to her with her tail. "I shall," she whispered. But the tabby was already dead.

_14 moons later..._

A blackbird hopped through the undergrowth, occasionally looking around. Every time it did so, the cat on the branch of a nearby tree hid herself in the leaves. Her pelt was as black as a starless night sky, and her green eyes narrowed as she watched the blackbird hop closer to the tree. _Just a little closer..._ Then she pounced, launching herself from the branch with the ease of practice. Upon landing, she trapped the blackbird in her paws and killed it with a swift bite to the neck.  
"Well caught, Night," her mother, Sky, purred as she emerged from the bushes, a vole hanging from her jaws. Night smiled and set the blackbird down. She knew Sky wasn't really her mother; she had figured it out several moons ago, but she liked to think that she was. Because, as she had said to herself a long time ago, if Sky wasn't her mother, who was? To begin with, they looked nothing like each other; Sky had gray fur and light blue eyes, Night was black with green eyes. Also, Sky had powerful back legs and a relatively light bone structure, helping her leap through trees. Night could tell she was more suited to creeping along the ground than climbing trees, but she had tried to learn for Sky's sake. Now, she was almost as good as her teacher.  
"Thanks." Night picked up the blackbird and climbed the tree, settling in its branches to eat. A few heartbeats later, Sky joined her. The two cats ate their fresh-kill and curled up together for a nap, nestled deep within the branches. Night purred to herself as her eyes closed. _Could life get any better than this?_ It could, but as Night would soon find out, it could get a lot worse. And it did.


End file.
